Secrets and Shadows
by Emanya
Summary: Leo's been attacked, and Raphael runs off when Splinter is missing!
1. Missing: Splinter

Brown eyes opened in the deep black of the darkened tunnel, and a three-fingered hand went to rub a green, bald head. 

"What was I doing…?" The strange looking young man asked himself as he stood, leaning his shell against the wall of the sewer tunnel.

He shook his head, then looked up suddenly, hearing a footfall beyond him in the darkness. 

He straitened out his bandana, a mask of blue, and drew one of his katana, trying to sort out the jumbled mass of shadows…

"Who's there?" He called out "Show yourself!"

But there was no answer, save silence and the sound of a footfall heading away as his assailant ran. 

*~*

Leonardo, the cool-headed field leader of what once was the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and now just the "Turtles" returned to the lair, an abandoned subway some ways below the city, his mind askew. 

Michaelangelo, the orange-masked prankster of the group looked up from the couch where he lounged with a box of leftover Chinese food on his stomach, chopsticks poised to dive into the leftover sweet-and-sour pork, rose his eye ridges at his brother as he entered. 

"What's eatin' you, Leo? Usually when you go on one of that crazy walks, you're more cheerful, what happened?"

Leo looked up from his thoughts. 

"I'm not sure, Mike, and that's what's troubling me."

*~*

The four brothers stood together, awaiting their Sensei's arrival in the "war room" of their lair, a subway car at the beginning of the tracks, where the conductor would seat himself. 

Donatello, the intellectual inventor of the four Turtles who were no longer teenage, glanced with concern at his brother Leonardo, there were dark bruises forming on his green skin, deep hard-hitting bruises that seemed very tender. 

Raphael, the fiery red-masked brother seemed disenchanted with all around him, distant and uncaring, though inside he was very nervous. 

Michaelangelo shifted from foot to foot in anticipation, if there was someone who hurt his brother (and who may steal pizza!) he wanted to get rid of them quickly!

Leonardo sat, feeling drained in the corner. His eyes were closed and his breathing almost labored, his walk had left him feeling rather ill to his stomach. 

And he knew, beyond somewhere in the distance, his attacker was waiting. 

A half-hour later, Master Splinter, the aged but kindly mutant rat the Turtles had been raised by, had not shown at the meeting. 

"This isn't right. Something doesn't feel right." Michaelangelo said, sliding a hand over his nunchaku, Don looked and nodded, agreeing with Mike. They turned to Leo, who opened his eyes. 

"You're right, Mike. This isn't good."

"Someone should go check on him."

"What do you think, Raph… ael?" Michaelangelo asked…

Raph had disappeared.


	2. Mistrust

TMNT2

Raphael ran through the darkness,_ sai _drawn, his anger building as his two-toed feet made their way down the sewer tunnels that he called his home. He hadn't meant to keep her a secret this long, he hadn't meant to exclude her from everything, but she was something special, something he really didn't have to share with his brothers, his own little secret. 

Why it had taken him so long to figure out she was a danger to his brothers he didn't know. After all, the first time they had met she had almost killed him… it didn't help that his mind was on "male things". 

His mind drifted back to the evening he had met her.

*~*

He was walking through the streets, hidden beneath a trench coat and a fedora, walking home from some cheesy movie that he didn't want to see he just needed to get out of the lair.

He had turned the corner of an alley to return to his home in the sewers, when he heard a woman's scream…

"It's got FUR!" she cried in hysterics, just as a youth ran by gripping a loaf of Italian bread in the paper wrapper. Raphael poked his head, seeing a woman fainted to the side while strangers tried to gather up a bag or three of torn groceries and no one had gone after the thief. 

"Taking advantage of a woman, that's not too high in my book, pal." He muttered, and started off after the youth. 

The young person he was chasing wore a green hooded sweatshirt and a pair of very big jeans, and cradled the bread in its arms lovingly as if it were the most important thing in the world right then.

It had come to a dead end in an alleyway; the youth made a sharp turn, ending in a park near the riverside. No one was in the park, since it was now nighttime in the city.

That's when the person had tripped to the side of the stairs leading to the river below. The bread went flying as the youth's head hit the concrete steps, tumbling into the water below with a splash. 

Raphael swore aloud, _very_ loudly, and ran down the stairs after the crook, taking off the trench and fedora as he ran, and leapt over the guardrail that separated the river from the land and into the chilly waters of the Hudson River.

He surfaced, blowing the polluted water out of his mouth with a huff as he searched for the hood, or bubbles, or anything that might alert him to the position of the youth. 

He saw the dark green hood float about ten feet away; swimming over her pulled the hood up and back, exposing a mass of silvery-gray hair. 

"Kids…" he shook his head, "dying their hair weird colors." He drug the person back to shore, and lay them flat on their back… and was greeted by a not-so-unpleasant surprise. 

It wasn't a kid. At least, not any kid he knew of that could have been normal. 

Lying before him, not breathing, was a teenage, mutant, cat! 

It had gray fur and silvery hair held back by a red handkerchief, eyes closed and the mouth parted slightly. 

"What the hell…" Raph said softly, and put a hand to her mouth, feeling no breath. 

He couldn't leave the cat here, not to die like this. That wasn't the right thing to do, but he was scared. If there were more mutant animals out there, would they be friends or enemies? What about the cat?

He did the only thing he could do. He administered CPR. 

He cupped his hands together, knowing his mouth was too wide to fit over its and still blow air into her lungs, and gently blew… 

That's when he heard a hard THUMP in the groin area of his shell.

And then that's when he heard a grunt of pain beneath him, and the body below shudder. 

He knelt back as the cat reached beneath its sweatshirt, exposing _katar, _or punching daggers. In a flash, he too had his weapons, his _sai_ drawn. 

They looked at each other a long time, neither moving, her breathing labored. 

Raphael recognized something in the cat's eyes, those orbs of blue and black, those windows to this stranger's soul. 

He saw pain. He saw fear. He saw loneliness.

He growled, and narrowed his eyes, then blinked, noticing for the first time the heaving chest…

And that the cat was a girl. 

"Hey, kitten, you put away your weapons, I'll put away mine, and we'll talk." He said, a hint of mean in his voice.

Amazingly, the cat complied. 

And Raphael kept his word, as the cat slid the blades below the sweatshirt, he re-holstered his _sai_.

The warm-blooded cat shivered slightly in the cooling night air, and Raphael sighed, picking up the trench coat 

"Look, that fur's gotta be a pain when it's wet, here, take this." He said, handing it to her.

The cat looked at Raph for a moment, then to the coat, and took it into her human-like paws

"Thank-you." She said softly as she took off the wet clothes. Raphael's eyes went wide as she exposed not a bra or panties, but a leather halter-top and a metal skirt laced with chain mail. She slipped the trench coat over her shivering body, then knelt back down, looking at Raphael. 

"What you looking at?" he asked her. 

"You." She answered honestly. "Who are you, or do you not have a name?"

"I'm Raphael, who are you?" 

"Ali Kat."

"Original."

"I could say the same." 

"Fair enough."

They looked at each other a moment longer. 

"Where you from?" she asked. 

"Here. You?"

"I'm not quite sure."

"How come?" 

The cat didn't answer, her ears perked up 

"Wails…" she blinked. 

"Wales? You're Welch?"

"Banshees." She said, and got up, looking towards Raphael "The blue banshees, their wails, their keens, they hurt my ears. We should go…"

"I don't hear anything…" Raphael started, then paused. Distant yet, he heard police sirens. 

"You're right. Let's go." He said, and walked over to a grating in the sewer system. Ali Kat followed him, looking nervously down. 

"You want me to go down there, into the Forbidden?" she asked, stepping away.

"Forbidden? Look here, Kat, this is my home down there! Sure, it stinks but hey, it's not so bad most of the time."

"But the Shadow-Man…"

"You wanna get away from those banshees?" 

"…"

"Good," Raphael said decisively. "Then follow me." He slid down into the sewer, grabbing a foothold, and holding the grating open. Ali slid down, landing on her left foot silently. 

"She's quieter than Leo." Raphael mused to himself as he set the grating back in place, looking up as the red and blue lights engulfed the area. He turned, looking at Ali, and thought "How in the world did I get my shell into this mess?"

*~*

Ali Kat had been living in the sewers, hiding from the other three turtles in a distant part of the system, where Raph had set her up with a bed and some blankets, pinching some comforts of home from his brothers. He felt awful of course, but sometimes caring for others can turn one against their brothers, he supposed. 

But there was still something wrong. 

The first night, Ali had slipped in the greasy tunnels, and had slit her footpads open on a piece of broken glass. She had commented she was strong, and walked fine (minus the limp from trying to fight Raphael), and though now she could walk perfectly, she seemed weak, and her eyes were glassy. Raph knew she was sick, but he didn't know what to do. He wasn't a nurturer, he wasn't a healer, and he damn sure wasn't a doctor. He was scared he had done something wrong, and it was gonna kill Ali. 

He climbed up a ladder reaching into a dead-ended abandoned tunnel, which Raphael had painstakingly hooked up one florescent light to. 

Ali lay sleeping peacefully in a sleeping bag (which used to belong to Leonardo - April had bought it since he never got the couch at her apartment), her silvery-gray hair spread around her head, creased and crimped as if she had been tossing and turning. Raphael knelt at her side. 

"Ali… hey kiddo." He said softly, putting his hand on Ali's shoulder and shaking slightly to awaken the younger mutant. 

The blue eyes of the cat opened slowly…

"Raph, what's going…"

"RAPHAEL!" Came a chorus of angry cries… Raphael turned to see his brothers, angered. 

"What the hell do you think you were doing Raph? Master Splinter's missing and all you can think about is…" Leonardo started, then saw the cat.

Ali stood, hissing, showing her sharp teeth, her whiskers shaking as she stood. The gray tail swished angrily behind her as Leonardo drew his katana. 

Everything was coming back to him about HER.

*~*

It was on one of his walks when he first saw her, the gray warrior cat sitting to the side; her eyes focussed on him. He had startled her, obviously… she had been in the middle of carving something on the side of the sewer.

"Hey!" he had started as she stood and turned… then found himself clubbed in the back of the head with a piece of metal. As he turned, he saw the bright _katar _blade shining briefly in the light in the alley above and then... darkness.

She had done something to him; he could hear chanting, and a deep, craggy voice that reminded him distantly of The Shredder.

And then he was blanked.


	3. Sleepover

The cat didn't look scared at all as the usually calm, collected leader held a _katana _to her throat, her blue eyes glanced serenely up at him. She was prepared to die, and that sent a shiver all the way to Leonardo's bones.

"Would you kill a woman who goes nameless?" she asked softly, purposely.

That hit Leo pretty hard. 

"Leo, Mike, Don, this is Ali, she's not feeling to great so can we keep blood and gore to a minimum? Did I just say that?" 

Leonardo backed away, he wasn't usually this hostile, but this thing had made a play of his honor. 

She sighed as she nearly collapsed down onto the sleeping back - Leo's sleeping bag, he noticed but said nothing - and crossed her legs. 

Michaelangelo scratched his head slightly

"So… Raph when were ya gonna tell us you had a girlfriend?" 

"?!"

*~*

They had taken the cat back to the lair, Raphael giving up his bandana so she could be blindfolded. 

Now she sat on the couch like a lump, her eyes closed as the brothers argued. 

"Raphael, why didn't you tell us?" Leonardo demanded. 

"Raph, why didn't you just steal our stuff? You coulda asked." Donatello inquired. 

"Psycho, didn't you know fur and shells don't mix?" Michaelangelo joked. 

Always count on Michaelangelo to be the funny one.

Raphael stayed silent, he felt awful, he had been dishonest, he had hidden her away, and worst of all, she was sick, and he knew it. And his brothers were more concerned about their stuff?

And it was said HE was the uncaring one.

"Hey, ya know, get the heck off my shell! She got into some trouble and I was just offering her a place to stay, I didn't tell you because she asked me not to, and Mike quite frankly I don't give a damn. And she is NOT my girlfriend!"

Ali opened her eyes and looked at them. 

"Raphael is right, he has been kind to me…" her voice broke slightly, becoming rough with tears "And if this is how you treat your clan members, then I wish Raphael had never found me to begin with, can't you see you're hurting him?" she said softly. 

Leonardo blinked, then narrowed his eyes. 

"Who are you to talk, anyway, you hadn't said a thing about yourself." 

Leonardo blinked again, that didn't sound like him at all… "I'm just worried about Splinter," he thought to himself. 

The cat took a shuddering sigh, then looked at him 

"I didn't tell Raphael, who saved my life. Why should I…" she stopped and blinked… standing as she walked over to a wall "It can't be…" she said softly as her hand traces over something the brothers green couldn't see.

"What's she doin'?" Mike asked Leo, 

Leonardo shrugged. 

Ali turned, and looked at them. 

"It's not safe for you around me… but I would recommend we work together, they took your teacher."

Leo, Don, Mike, and Raph blinked. 

"How'd you know?"  
Ali Kat turned around, a glint of fear in her eyes

"Because the ones who took your master are the ones who bought me to your world."

Raphael narrowed his eyes at Ali, she had said she didn't know where she came from, why was she telling them different?

Ali shifted her weight nervously, tense. 

Mike sighed, - a rare him unless he was told to do something - then pulled his brothers into a huddle. 

"Look guys, this kitten doesn't look to be too healthy, and well Splinter can take care of himself right?" he said nervously. "I think she needs better rest and food than she's been getting… uh… no offense Raph!" 

"Get on with it Mike." Raph growled

"I think maybe she should stay here while we all work out a plan to get Splinter back."

Leonardo turned to Ali, who was leaning tiredly against a wall. Had he been so blind in his anger at having his honor insulted, that he did not notice she was ill? He felt guilt rising in his throat like bile, and turned back to the group. 

He nodded reluctantly, thinking it over. Splinter was a Ninjitsu Master; he could take care of himself, at least for a little while. 

"You're right, Mike." He said. 

"Hey! Cat dudette! Pack your PJ's and prepare to party down 'till dawn!" 

Ali blinked and tilted her head 

"I don't understand…" 

"Huh? Oh, well that means you're kinda sorta staying with us." He shrugged, and Ali stood, looking alarmed…

"No, I couldn't, I'd put you all in mortal danger!" she insisted, she stood up, looking at the ladder that could lead her to freedom. 

Mike laughed 

"Hey! We're Ninjas! We beat the foot clan! We protect the city from bad guys!"

"But you don't know what I know, and you can't do what I do." Ali Kat said softly. She looked to Raphael pleadingly.

"I'm sorry, Ali, but Leo's right, if you don't stay you could just get sicker."

"Yeah, and Raph doesn't want the death of such a lovely cat on his head!" Donatello snickered. 

"Aw stuff it Don!" Raph blushed. 

"Aw! Look at 'im! He's BLUSHING!" Mike's voice rang out like a bell. 

Ali herself was blushing, but one couldn't see it through her fur.

*~*

And so Ali was staying in the living room of the turtles, sleeping on the ragged couch, but she didn't seem to mind at all, well… sleeping yes. Ali wanted to be up and around, she wanted to get rid of the threat as soon as possible. 

Raphael couldn't agree more. 

*~*

The orange bandana-ed turtle skateboarded through the sewers, it was just before dawn and although he had a long night, helping to move the Kitten's stuff from the dead-ended tunnel to the living room of the Turtle Lair, he was up. His almost endless amount of energy from all that pepperoni and ice cream pizza was probably what attributed to this.

He paused under a grating, and took up a map. 

"Yup! This looks like the place!" he mummered softly. He put the board to the side, and pushed up on the grating. 

He was just above eye-level with the ground, and he saw what he was after. 

It was white with a yellow center, hanging there simple and beautiful. 

He grabbed one daisy, and returned to the darkness of the sewers.

*~*

"Hum ha da de da du…" Michaelangelo hummed as he came out of the kitchen with a bowl of Lucky Charms, half a bagel, an apple, a tall glass of orange juice, and an old root beer bottle with the aforementioned daisy in water. 

"Oh Alllllllllllllllllllllli!" he said, drawing out the name of the mutant cat. "Time to wake up and smell the daisies!" 

He set the breakfast tray on the coffee table, and turned to the lump. 

"Ah man, c'mon Ali don't just lay there like a bump on a log!" 

He placed his hand down on Ali's shoulder, and felt it sink in. 

"What the…" he narrowed his eyes slightly and pulled back the flap of the sleeping bag 

He found a bunch of throw pillows in her place. 

"GAH! LEO! DON! RAPH! THE CAT'S NOT IN THE BAG!"

Don poked his head, without his violet bandana, out of his room. 

"Mike, it's 'the cat's outta the…' ALI'S GONE?" 

"DUH!" Mike exclaimed, 

Raphael was the first one totally out of his room, tying his bandana, a snarl on his lips. 

"Ali!" he barked, as if expecting an answer. 

Leonardo was out a second later, placing his _katana _in their place on his back. Donatello came out of his room, bo in hand.

The four turtles were in a panic; did the same people who took Splinter take Ali too? 

"I'm right here, Raphael." Came a small voice from the shadows… 

Every head turned to the voice, and seeming materializing out of nowhere came the gray-and-white body of Ali Kat, wearing the same brown leather top and chain mail-leather skirt. Her eyes were indeed glazed over, and she seemed even sicker this morning. 

"Uh… hey Dudette, I made ya a little breakfast? We got yer lucky charms, your Manhattan bagel…"

"Mike, what's that burning…?" Leonardo said, sniffing the air. 

"GAH! THE PANCAKES!" Mike exclaimed, and ran back to the kitchen. 

Ali raised what would have been her eyebrows as she stood shakily, and ran a hand through her silvery hair. 

"I don't feel very well." She commented absently. 

"Queen of the Obvious." Raph said, he was a little bit peeved at having to be woken up for nothing. With a wave of his hand he dismissed the whole event "I don't know about you guys, but I'm going back to bed." He muttered, and walked back into his room. 

Leo sighed, and glanced at Ali. He felt better today than he did yesterday after his walk, he felt less tired then he wanted to feel. 

Donatello rubbed his head. 

"Guess that means I should maybe get to the lab." He shrugged. 

Michaelangelo came back with a frown on his face. He rubbed the back of his head. 

"I did have pancakes for the rest of us… but uh… I kinda forgot about them." 

Ali smiled at him, and Mike melted. She had such a cute smile!

"It's OK, Mike." Leo said that with almost a yawn forming, he rubbed the back of his head. 

"Don't go disappearing on us again, Ali." He said, and Ali could detect a tone of maliciousness in his voice. "I don't want to have to go looking for you."

Ali frowned, but nodded and retreated to the comfort of the couch. 

"Mike, keep an eye on her." Leonardo said, glancing at her "I don't trust her."

Ali scowled at Leonardo then, laying her ears back. 

"I can hear well, I don't know about you, shellback." She said, then lay down inside the sleeping bag. 

"I can hear just fine, and my name is Leonard… OH!" 

Leo ducked just in time to miss a pillow being thrown at him. 

Leonardo scowled, then walked into his room to meditate; this would be an interesting problem… 

Mike shrugged, and walked over to Ali. 

"Feelin' a LITTLE better?" 

"No. I don't want to fight him." She said softly. She looked up to the closed door "He is strong; but he's troubled by the disappearance of his teacher." 

"You psychic or something?" 

The gray cat smiled at Mike slightly

"Maybe."


	4. A decision

April O'Neil sighed as she made her way down the sewer passages; she could feel something wasn't right. 

She found the ladder to the Turtle's lair easily, and slipped down, climbing slowly

"Hey guys! Guess who?" she called out happily, hoping that her feelings of doom and gloom were wrong. 

What she found startled her.

There was something sleeping on the couch. 

April's first thought was that Splinter was dying, and she walked over…

"Splinter, Splinter is that you?" she asked cautiously… 

There was a flurry of movement, and April saw something gray with fangs leaping at her, and a flash of steel against a dark background of panic.

And then she fainted. 

*~*

"April? C'mon Ape wake up!" she heard a voice coach in the darkness…

"Mmm… Mikey?" She blinked. She was lying on the floor with a pillow under her and a cold cloth on her forehead. 

"April, you gonna be all right?" Leonardo asked, glaring at something beyond April. 

April heard feet scuffle. 

"I… I didn't know she was your friend." Said a meek voice, embarrassed and shy. April sat up, and blinked at what beheld her. 

A gray cat stood there, her silvery hair draped around her shoulders; her whiskers and ears drooped. April knew a little about cats, and she could tell this one wasn't well. 

She stood and glanced at the Teenage Mutant cat… then turned to Leonardo

"What's going on here?" 

"April, Ali, Ali, April. Now, don't go trying to rip her throat out again, OK?" Mike said, crossing his arms jokingly. 

"I wasn't trying to rip out her throat. I was trying to knock her out." Ali said defensively. 

Mike rolled his eyes. 

"Can't take a joke, KitKat?" 

"Can't take a hint, shellback?"

"Uh…"

"She's got you there, Mike!" Don laughed. 

April smiled at Ali amiably. 

"So, where you from, Ali?"

"Somewhere I'm sure."

"Oh…"

*~*

A man loomed on a dark throne of skulls before a long walkway. To the sides of the walk were two pits, each full of pitiful, moaning underlings. 

His hair was a dark gray, the occasional bright silver shone in the dim light of the chamber, his eyes were a bright, vivid blue.

"We have returned with the rat, master." Came a soft, hissing voice to the side of him.

"Rat? IMBICILE!" stood this dark lord. "I said CAT! C- A-T cat! I said nothing of a RAT!" 

"You said Rat sire." The voice said defensively, then in a swirl of shadows, Master Splinter, the elderly rat whom taught the turtles the art of ninjitsu, appeared, suspended from two chains that no one could see. He lifted his head weakly; his half-ear swiveled slightly 

"A cat?" he thought quietly to himself. 

"You idiot! You were supposed to bring Alicia back to me!" the dark man growled as he stood. He wore medieval style armor, and his eyes shown with such hatred and malevolence that Splinter was frightened by it. 

"Sire, the rat is only the beginning! There are four warrior animals there, aside from the cat! And the rat will draw all five of them here!" 

A man appeared close by Splinter. He was small, and pale, and very rat-like himself in appearance (save the fur).

"I am sure of it, Sire!" 

"Mm… very well then." The lord said dismally "It will be good to have more warriors like Alicia on our side; the Fianna of Night will not prevail without its Star Maiden!"

"What has been done here?" Splinter blinked, "Alicia?" 

*~*

Ali Kat sighed as Donatello helped her up onto a lab bench at Donatello's lab. April had left shortly before, befuddled at the Cat-Girl's answers to her questions.

"I don't see what this is about," she said grumpily. "I am a warrior, I do not get sick!" she insisted. 

"Well, I'm a warrior too and I get sick when I don't take care of myself." Said Don, with a slight smile 

"It's OK to get sick, it just means you're normal."

"But I'm NOT normal! I'm a cat!"

"And I'm a turtle who's smarter than most of the human population on Earth." He grinned back. "Now we could go on arguing on like this all day or I could find out what's making you sick, get you some medicine and get us all outta here and get Splinter back." Don challenged as he picked up something that looked like a palm pilot. 

"Humph." Ali replied, crossing her arms. 

Don glanced up at her, and sighed. 

"Look, just give it a chance, all right? It's not like I'm asking you to sharpen your claws on a scratch post instead of the curtains… don't even think about it!" 

"I'm taking offence to that, Donatello!" 

"Please, call me Don, if we're gonna be lair mates you might as well." He said. He took out a small, thin stick that shone with a thread of silver. 

"What's that? Is that supposed to heal me?" 

"Nope. Just a thermometer…"

"Oh… uh…" 

"It measures how hot you are inside."

"Yeah, everyone knows you're cute on the outside!" Michaelangelo said as he walked into the Lab. 

Donatello rolled his eyes. 

"Quit hitting on her, Mike." He grinned. "It may upset her stomach." 

"Ow! That hurt Don-san!" He grimaced. 

"Ali, open your mouth and stick this under your tongue."

"I don't know… GAG!" Don putting the thermometer in her mouth rudely interrupted Ali's words. 

Mike hopped right up on the table next to Ali, and smiled slightly

"Hey, Kitten, don't worry, Don-san's good at repairin' stuff! You should be all set!" he chuckled. 

Ali turned her eyes to the ground, looking totally wrong, sitting in a technology lab with buttons, dials, knobs, do-hickeys and thing-a-ma-bobs, with a leather halter top and a leather-and-chain mail skirt. He frowned slightly, then looked up

"Hey, Ali, how about you an' me go clothes shoppin' for ya? I mean living in those things must be a drag… especially when they get wet in the rain… oh wait, you're a cat, you don't like getting wet…"

"Abtually, Mibe, I wike toob swim." Ali said discontentedly. 

"Hey! Keep your mouth shut Ali, Mike, stop talking to her!" Donatello said, putting his hands on his hips. 

He could be such a mother hen.

About a half-hour later, Donatello stood looking in disbelief at the results of the testing. 

"What the HECK?! It says here that you have, uh… MICHAELANGELO! WHERE DID YOU PUT THE REAL RESULTS?!" 

Mike burst out laughing, and handed the real results to Donatello. 

"IT SAYS YOU HAVE A NICE TAIL END!" he hooted. Ali didn't look amused, glancing at the end of her tail, which ended in a white tip. 

She shrugged. 

"I'm glad you agree, Donatello, Don I mean… what are the results?" she asked, inquisitive. 

Don scratched his head 

"Malnutrition, lack of vitamin C…"

"I have that CD!" Mike chirped. Donatello glared at him. 

"Like I was saying… a lack of vitamin C and… well… frankly you could put on a few pounds. When's the last time you ate, regularly?" 

"I don't remember… I know I have been in this city for ten sunsets." 

"TEN DAYS? Geez, no wonder then." Don said, and glanced at Michaelangelo. 

"Mike, this girl needs some serious vitals! Fats, oils, meats, milks, breads, and of course, tomato sauce! You know what this means…"

"PIZZA PARTY!" Mike cried out happily, and left the lab hurriedly. 

"Don, what's a pizza party?" 

"Well, Ali, it's when you order this big, flat open-faced pie and eat it to some good tunes!"

"Tunes…?" 

"Ah… I'll explain later."

*~*

Leonardo looked up as Michaelangelo jumped up and down coming from Donatello's lab, and raised an eye ridge. 

"What? What's wrong with the cat?" he asked cautiously. 

"The babe's hungry, man! Don's prescription was the all-might Pizza Par-tay!" 

Raphael lay on his bed, the door opened as he listened to his brothers. 

Of course Ali was hungry, but when did he have time to pinch food between patrol? Mike would have noticed it missing, anyway. 

He shut the door, full of disgust with himself.

*~*

Ali yawned as she walked back into the lair with Don in the lead, since she didn't know her way around yet. She flicked on ear irritably as she glanced around, looking a little better since the change of scenery was something she needed.

Leonardo sighed as he sat reading on the couch, he glanced up, nodding at Don but ignoring Ali. 

"Where'd Mike an' Raph go, Leo?"

"Something about malnutrition needing a pizza party? Don…" 

"Ah… well… you know Mike was just there and I thought heck we hadn't had pizza for three days…"

"Don, there are more important things at hand." 

"Uh…"

"Yeah."

Ali sighed as she leaned against the wall, listening to them argue. 

"Besides, if she's malnourished that's her own fault…"

"What was I supposed to do about it?" Ali snapped "It's not like I can simply ask someone 'Excuse me, I'm starving and I'm rather ill, would you mind sparing some bread?' How do you think I met Raphael? I had to eat, and I stole a loaf of bread from a woman walking down the rivers of stone you have in the city above. Raphael didn't like me stealing, though I WAS hungry, and knocked me into the river in order to stop the thief from getting away. There, it's said. I brought dishonor upon myself for stealing. I'm not proud of it; I'm shamed of it. Now, stop treating me like an enemy, Leonardo! I'm some one you can trust… why don't you trust me?" 

Leonardo glowered at the cat. 

"I treat you like an enemy because as far as I'm concerned, you are one. I don't trust you at all, you know where Splinter is and you won't take us there."

"Because if I can't defend you, you will die!" 

"That's a load of crap!" 

Donatello blinked… Leonardo said… crap?

"Then why do I bother staying here? If you want to die… just ask Leonardo. I won't be happy to do it, but why let something suffering such as you continue to exist?" Ali spat at him… then she put a hand/paw to her forehead, and sighed. She looked up at Leonardo. "I'm sorry what happened to your teacher, and I'm sorry that you and Raph don't get along, and I'm sorry that I snapped at you, Leonardo. I just wish there were some way I could prove to you that I am not a traitor to this cause. My life, as well as all your brothers', your teacher's, and yours, hangs in the balance. We are all in the same situation." She said softly… then turned… nearly knocking over Michaelangelo in the process. 

"Hey Kitten! Where ya going? I got the pizza!"

"Forget the pizza, we're going to go save your teacher. I want to be over and through with this as soon as possible…"

"But Ali, you're still sick!"

"It doesn't matter, if we catch him unaware, we might have a chance. But, we must strike like lightning then fade out still leaving him blind."

"I like the way you talk, Kat." Raph agreed, pulling out his _sai_. "So let's run and…"

"Run? We don't need to."

"Huh?" all the turtles asked. 

Ali smiled softly, and walked to the wall she had first traced something over. She glanced around, and picked up her belt off the stand table next to the wall, and slipped it around her waist, buckling it securely. She picked up her quiver and her bow, and looked at the wall.

She ran a hand over it, making sure of something. Then nodded. 

"It's here." She whispered softly. She reached into her side pouch, and from it drew a bit of silver chalk. She raised it to the brick as she began to whisper… 

"Guardians of Night and time, hark to my call and rhyme, open the gates of shadows bare, to the Palace of the Shadow Lord, we must be there. The raven has wings with which to fly, love travels on the lullaby, we must travel a distance great, I bid to thee, open the gate!" 

There was a bright flash of light, and Ali stood back from a swirling nexus, ablaze with florescent colors.

She turned to the turtles, shouting over the noise of nothingness 

"Come! The gate won't last very long! As soon as I pass through it will close; hurry!" 

"I don't like this…" Leo growled, but went first through the gate, standing just inside. His feet felt as if they were on an icy fire!

The vortex around him was stunningly beautiful; colors that his mind could not comprehend were swirling around inside. As he was about to touch the color of the emotion of pure joy, which was so beautiful that to normal animals it would be blinding, Ali called into him, her voice echoing in the void 

"Be careful! Don't too long at one color!"

Leonardo casually turned to a bright, sunshine yellow (the true color of regular happiness). 

The other turtles stepped through hesitantly, and as Ali walked through, the portal closed around them… 

"What the…?" Raph started, but Ali breezed past them, she seemed to know exactly where she was going. 

The turtles looked at one another, and could only shrug. 

And Ali led the way into the colorful void.


	5. Memories...

TMNT5

Splinter sighed, his wrists pained him, and his head throbbed. He kept his eyes closed as he listened to the Shadow Lord.

"Fool! You said they'd be here by now!" he growled. 

The thin, scrawny man appeared back.

"Sire! My calculations must have been wrong!

The Shadow Lord growled as he turned the mass of his dark velvet cloak sweeping as he turned. 

The Shadow Lord was obsessed with the girl that was once Ali Kat… 

*~*

Ali paused, her whiskers quivered as she heard a soft voice whisper the name "Alicia" in her head… echoing through her memories. The voice stirred something within her, deep emotions of a vicious hatred, but also pure terror… and as she felt herself pulled in by force to her memories, she gave a strangled cry of alarm.

"Ali?" Raphael asked… and as the cat fell to the side he was the first to her side, catching her slight weight in his arms and laying her flat.

"What's wrong? What happened?!" Michaelangelo asked, grabbing his nunchaku from his belt.

"I don't know Mike… Don tell me you brought something that'll revive her!"

*~*

It was a warm evening; twilight had just fallen upon the green lands of Keltika, and Alicia Caedmon slipped away from her Fianna to bathe in the warmed pools.

The full moon shone upon the lake and the sandy beach as the slender brown-haired young woman, a teenager, took off her battle-ready leather top and slipped out of the leather skirt, shedding the undergarment edged with soft fur-like fibers. 

She quickly entered the water, leaving her weapons behind as she dipped under to her neck, enjoying the cold feel of water on her skin.

The crickets chirped, the bullfrogs croaked, and in the distance she heard a ker-spash into the water, knowing one of the painted turtles that frequented the logs in the daylight hours had taken to the pool shimmering with moonlight.

From the bushes, two people watched her, the young maiden from the Fianna of Night. These two were of the Fianna of Darkness, the evil counterpart of the Fianna of Night.

Their leader was a young man of perhaps twenty-five years, dark hair and eyes lit with the fires of hatred; he had mastered their tactics in a matter of months, earning him the title of Shadow Lord.

The second was the Lord's second in command, a go-for, a general. His eyes gleamed darkly as they feasted upon the young flesh of the swimming girl.

Both wanted her badly, they could feel deep emotion of lust swell inside.

The Shadow Lord stepped forward into the moonlight as the girl stood; her back was quicksilver in the moonlight.

"You there!" The Shadow Lord called out…

Alicia turned, her bright blue eyes reflecting her bewilderment and also a deep-set fear.

The girl turned again, and ran for the shore.

The Lord smirked, and with a wave of his hand called Shadow Renders, beings of pure darkness with glowing red eyes. They were created with one purpose: seek and capture…

And Alicia was their quarry.

Grabbing her weapons belt, complete with her katar blades and quarterstaff, the girl fled into the woods… 

And disappeared. 

*~*

"Ali? Ali! C'mon Kat wake up!" she heard someone pleading…

But she didn't wake up… that was… that was a memory…

"Alicia…" the gray cat mummered softly… "Alicia… C… Cae…"

"What's she saying?"  
"Who knows?" 

"Not you?"

"Not me?"

"GAH?"  
"AH!" 

Ali screamed as she sat up, covering her chest with one arm while balling her fist in the other… 

Donatello reached out and grabbed the fist…

"Hold on now, Ali, it's OK… friends, remember?"

"Yeah! Shelled cute and green, that's us?" Mike chirped

"What happened?" Leonardo asked. He didn't sound as happy as Don or Mike that Ali was awake.

"I… do not know, Leonardo… come. We must find your master and leave…"

Leonardo narrowed his eyes "How come you couldn't make that shadow gate directly to Splinter? And how do you know this is the place?"

"You're just going to have to trust me, Leonardo." Ali Kat answered him, looking up at him. Her voice shook with uncertainty and sorrow, and her eyes were watery. "But… Leonardo…" she whispered… "I can hear her crying in me… there's someone else inside of me and I don't know who they are… they are the ones who know this place… not me… not me…"

Leonardo glowered a minute at the cat, then took a step forward. 

"Fine then… c'mon turtles, let's keep moving!"


End file.
